The name teddy bear comes from the 26th President Of The United States, Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt.

During a four day hunting trip in Mississippi on November 14, 1902, he refused to shoot a bear that some fellow hunters had cornered, clubbed and tied to a tree for him. Saying it was unsportsmanlike to do that, he instead ordered the mercy killing of the bear.

The incident prompted a cartoon by Clifford K. Berryman of the Washington Post titled “Drawing the Line in Mississippi” on November 16, 1902. At first the bear was drawn to look fierce but later it was redrawn to be more cute and cuddly. The story and cartoon became very popular and within a year the teddy bear was born.